God’s not dead – Eli Sabblah https://www.elisabblah.com Sat, 04 Oct 2014 16:43:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 GOD’s NOT DEAD (EVILUSION) https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/10/04/gods-not-dead-evilusion/ https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/10/04/gods-not-dead-evilusion/?noamp=mobile#comments Sat, 04 Oct 2014 16:43:15 +0000 http://elisabblah.wordpress.com/?p=765 The origin of man remains one of the most fundamentally relevant topics in human history. Whatever the case is, each of us believe in some sort of a starting point of living things. The beliefs vary. However, there are two widely held beliefs so far as the origin of humanity is concerned. These two are exclusive of each other and in total opposition to each other. They are Creation and The Big Bang Theory. Evolution is often attributed to Charles Darwin. As a matter of fact, this theory dates back to ancient times. It is believed that the Greek philosopher, Anaximander (BCE 610 – 546), held an evolutionary view too: claiming that man evolved from some other kind of animal such as fish.

 

Charles Darwin nevertheless, came up with a theory that involves a very interesting mechanism called Natural Selection. Natural Selection refers to the process by which a member of a specific species of organisms develops some kind of advantageous features which the other members do not possess; this organism then transfers this trait to its offspring. So the other members of this species who do not have these special traits will eventually die-off as time goes on. This is simply because the advantageous traits usually come in to aid survival, reproduction etc. therefore the organisms that do not have it will eventually die-off. Natural selection communicates a sense of ‘the survival of the fittest’. It also professes that, fairly complex organisms evolved from somewhat simplistic ancestors. For example an organism that develops wings among its fellow members of the same species is bound to pass on the trait to its offspring. Therefore there will come a time when only its offspring will survive because they inherited this special trait from it. It is like what we see in movies like X-MEN; we see human beings developing special super powers; they are called mutants. If this were to happen in the real world, then it is obvious that these mutants would live longer than the average man. Simply because they would have special traits that could help them survive dangerous circumstances. Therefore these mutants would mate and transfer these traits to their offspring. And as generations pass, there will be a total wiping out of the human race – better yet, members of the human race who aren’t mutants.

 
I saw in a documentary once that snakes are believed to have evolved from 4-legged ancestors. It turns out to be a widely held assertion because I have come across it in other write-ups too. I find that very amazing! The fact that scientist believe that the snake evolved from a 4-legged ancestor. It amazes me because, I was taught this very fact way back in Sunday school. In Genesis 3:14, God cursed the serpent when he said ‘…cursed are you above all LIVESTOCK’. He goes on to say that ‘… on your belly you shall go…’ .The serpent once had 4 legs, hence it being referred to as a livestock. Then the curse caused it to become a creeping animal. Once again, we see a collision of science and scripture, yet the former will never give the credit to the latter for making the assertion first.

 

One of the strong bases on which the theory of Evolution rests is the fact that the process of Natural Selection takes a long time to fully materialize. So all what has been said about Natural Selection above is only possible over a very long period of time. Nevertheless, Darwin himself said if it could be proven that an organism came into existence without going through numerous, successive, slight modifications then his theory would absolutely break down. This affirms what has been mentioned earlier that his theory completely rests on a long process of numerous, slight modifications in organisms. If there is ever an organism that is known to have come to being without going through such a process, it would be called an ‘irreducibly complex system’. The interesting thing about an irreducibly complex system is that, it is a system composed of multiple parts which are necessary for the system to function. And the entire system cannot function if one part is missing. This brings to mind organs in the human body such as the eye. If we claim the human eye had to go through a process of evolution, then we are simply saying that for several years, there were generations of men (or creatures) who walked the face of the earth blind. Because, if their eyes evolved gradually, it means at some point their eyes didn’t have some parts. And since with the eye every single part helps in vision, then probably they were blind. Charles Darwin himself says:

 

‘To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light … could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.
Prof. John Lennox also makes a very important argument that I would like to cite here. He said the human genetic code is the longest word recorded in human history. It is a 3.4 billion-long word which has been arranged systematically. When you discover your name written in the sand, it is absolutely normal for you to assume that a being of intelligence made an input. You look at your 10-letter-long name written in the sand, and you immediately wonder WHO it is that wrote it there. Here we are, as humans, with a 3.4 billion-long code in all of us yet we are expected to believe it all happened by chance. There is certainly something wrong somewhere. Molecular biologist Michael Denton states that:
‘Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory … made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man…’

 

My favorite part of the quote is where he says the bacterial cell is far more complicated than any machinery built by man. Think about the most outstanding and complex machine in the world, Denton claims the bacterial cell is more complicated than it. So if human beings created those machines, isn’t it right to assume that there must be a personality behind Creation? Isn’t it rather absurd to assume that it all happened by chance? All evolution is trying to tell us is that, over a long period of time, a laptop could come into existence without anybody inventing it. Even if that is possible, what explains the origin of the operating system the laptop runs on? That is why I believe in the creation story in Genesis 1. In the beginning GOD…

I call Evolution ‘Evilusion’ because I see it as an evil illusion that deters humans from giving honor and praise to GOD. I believe in God. The universe is far too complex to have happened by chance. The cells in our body are far too complex to have come to being as a result of a random unguided process. GOD’s Not Dead, He is surely alive.

]]>
https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/10/04/gods-not-dead-evilusion/feed/ 1
GOD’s NOT DEAD: MIRACLES HAPPEN https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/24/gods-not-dead-miracles-happen/ https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/24/gods-not-dead-miracles-happen/?noamp=mobile#comments Wed, 24 Sep 2014 17:46:16 +0000 http://elisabblah.wordpress.com/?p=756 She looked at me to be sure I had seen it too–and I had – but it seems she needed to be sure she wasn’t the only one who saw it. I sprang to my feet immediately and shouted involuntarily at the sight of the miracle. A few minutes earlier, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh had asked the little girl to be seated on a chair in front of the entire congregation. He took hold of her legs and stretched them out so we could all see that her left leg was shorter than the right. The Evangelist said a word of prayer – a very short prayer – there and then, within a split second both legs were of the same length!

 

The lady next to me was on her feet as well. You could tell she had a lot to say as she looked at me with eyes that were glistening because they were teary. She had a lot to say; her whole demeanor depicted one who had some sort of fire burning inside of her, causing her discomfort. But the greatest discomfort was, trying to hold herself back, and if you like, trying to tame the wild fire. You could tell vividly that she wanted to scream but her words rolled off her tongue in a murmur: a soft speech under her breath. She said to me, I know that girl; we met once at the hospital. We had both gone there to see the doctor. That day the doctor told us we would have to undergo a surgical operation to correct the deformity in our legs. She told me later that her parents could not afford it – mine could, anyway – so I encouraged her. I told her not to lose faith and that God will make a way’. By saying ‘God will make a way, I am sure she meant God will make the needed amount for the surgery available. She obviously didn’t expect God to come through for the little girl in such a dramatic fashion. All of us in the auditorium that day were stunned at the sight of the miracle but the lady next to me was hit the hardest. Obviously due to her past encounter with both the little girl and the same condition. Seeing a condition literally vanish into thin air in such a dramatic way was awesome. Especially if you once had the same deformity and had to pay a huge sum of money to get it fixed (in this case, the lady next to me). My life hasn’t been the same since that day. What happened? Did the Evangelist stretch the little girl’s left leg till it was of the same length as the right? Was it thermal expansion? They say there is a scientific explanation for every phenomenon, so I guess it was thermal expansion: the process by which heated objects increase in size. I cannot explain it, but I know I saw it together with the hundreds of congregants on that day.

 

The occurrence of miracles simply reiterates the fact that not everything can be explained scientifically. That is the very reason why some scientists do not believe in them. They claim miracles are a breach of natural laws and since that is impossible then it means those who claim to have witnessed miracles are delusional. I love C.S Lewis’ explanation of what miracles are. He made this illustration:

when I put 2 dollars on a table and add 2 dollars to it later, it equals 4 dollars. Leaving the money on the table, when I come back and only see 2 dollars, it doesn’t mean that the laws of arithmetic have been broken, but it means that the laws of ALABAMA have been broken’.

What he is saying here is, when there is a strange occurrence, especially one occurring in a realm where there are laws, we need not always allude it to a breach of the laws. Those two dollars he came to meet on the table later on do not signify that the laws of arithmetic have been broken (since 2+2 equals 4). They signify that the laws of Alabama have been broken, in the sense that, it is likely somebody came in to steal the other 2 dollars. Do we say that this person broke the laws of arithmetic or the laws of Alabama? Certainly not the law of arithmetic because he operates in a different realm and that realm is governed by laws too. So the thief broke the laws of Alabama because he is under those laws. One can only break a law he is under. When it comes to miracles, we are talking about God here. He doesn’t have to break any natural laws, because he isn’t subject to them in the first place. He is God. Many claim the bible is full of fables because most of the happenings in it cannot be verified scientifically. Well of course, the bible is a book about God and his relationship with men and anywhere there is God you should expect supernatural occurrences. I have seen police officers direct traffic many times even though the lights were working. This is usually due to the heavy nature of the vehicular traffic on those roads that day. On such occasions, the cars obey the policeman and not the traffic lights. The red light could be on, but the officer would beckon that particular row of cars to move because that power has been vested in him. Do we say the policeman has broken the laws of Ghana because of that act? Certainly not, on such occasions, he has the authority and sovereignty to do so. So in the case of miracles, think of God as the policeman who stepped in to direct traffic. Though there are laws governing natural occurrences, He steps in to do his will as He pleases. That is SOVEREIGNTY!

 
Miracles are supernatural occurrences that cannot be explained; Creation in itself is a miracle. The universe is arranged too systematically for it to have just occurred without an agent creating or even guiding it. The many stars and galaxies, the sun and the other heavenly bodies and the other planets couldn’t have been created out of nothing by nothing. Instead of scientist giving God the credit for these things, they would rather give it to a random occurrence. In 1929, Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe is expanding. This claim is held in high esteem by scientists the world over. It is also a proven fact that the earth is hanging in space. More than 5000 years before that, these 2 facts were recorded in the book of Job:

He stretches out the north over the empty SPACE, and hangs the earth on nothing’ Job 26:7.

It says ‘He stretches…’ implying that it is an on-going activity; it never ended. God hasn’t stopped expanding the universe, otherwise the verse would have read, ‘He stretched…’ which would have communicated a sense of finality. I am fascinated by the fact that the author of the book of Job knew that the earth hanged on nothing. How did he know that? Was he an astronaut? Did he know Neil Armstrong? Maybe he owned a spaceship. Whatever the case may be, the author knew something that took 1000s of years for the smartest brains of this world to know. The irony of the whole situation is in the fact that children at Sunday school probably knew this and erudite scientists had to wait till 1929 to be sure of it. Wait… let that sink in.

 

I believe in miracles because I have seen many in my own life and in the lives of others. Day in and day out I encounter people who operate in the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are a tangible proof of the existence of God. It is my prayer that many Christians shall hunger for God more and he will also grant us these gifts to help in showcasing his power thereby pointing many to him. At the display of such gifts, many shall run and announce, like the woman at the well, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did’ – Jesus. Our God is alive and not dead.

]]>
https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/24/gods-not-dead-miracles-happen/feed/ 2
GOD’s NOT DEAD; THERE WERE NEPHILIM https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/14/gods-not-dead-there-were-nephilim/ https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/14/gods-not-dead-there-were-nephilim/?noamp=mobile#respond Sun, 14 Sep 2014 14:26:36 +0000 http://elisabblah.wordpress.com/?p=741 Nephilim are known to be the offspring of fallen angels and ‘the daughters of men’. They are hybrid creatures: a combination of the genes of humans and that of supernatural beings. Nephilim however, are known to have had some unhuman characteristics and features. Most of them were giants, some had 24 fingers and toes in all (6 on each hand and feet), and others had 2 rows of teeth in their mouths. So Goliath was a Nephilim: a descendant of the fallen angels. They were these grotesque and enormous creatures that existed many centuries ago. It does sound like a myth, but by evidence a fact can be established and that’s why I am writing this.

 

The bible makes mention of Nephilim in the Old Testament and also other Ancient books that are considered credible and true like the book of Enoch speak about their existence. In those days, there was a massive invasion of the earth by the Nephilim. This move, obviously orchestrated by Satan, is believed to have been his way of trying to corrupt the genome of the promised Messiah. Look at it this way; he knew God was going to send His son down through a virgin’s womb to save mankind from sin and damnation. Hence, he orchestrated this move in order to corrupt the genes of the entire human race, so that the savior would be born not fully God and fully man, but he would have a bit of the genes of fallen angels in him- thereby making his blood not qualified to atone for the sins of humanity. This necessitated the flood in Noah’s time. That was God’s solution to the whole problem: he had to wipe out all who had their genes corrupted by that of the Nephilim.

 

In Genesis 6:4 it says, ‘The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, AND ALSO AFTERWARD, when the ‘sons of God’ (Angels) came into the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the MIGHTY MEN who were of old, the men of renown. Verse5. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth…’. This is exactly the point I raised earlier. The Nephilim had filled the earth with so much evil and sin that it grieved God and he decided to save humanity and the bloodline of the savior hence the story of Noah’s ark. It is common knowledge that in those many years that the ark was under construction, Noah extended a hand of grace to the people. He told them of a pending disaster, yet they made fun of him and didn’t pay heed to his message. That is how gracious God is, for though he sought to preserve the bloodline of the savior, he still loved the evil and pervert generation so much that he offered them a second chance. In the verse above, you will realize that it says there were Nephilim in those days ‘…AND ALSO AFTERWARD’. This implies that after Noah’s ark, there was another eruption of Nephilim. This makes complete sense, when you think about the fact that the story of David killing Goliath happened many years after the flood. There was another eruption of Nephilim and those were dealt with accordingly by the Israelites. Remember when the spies Moses sent into Canaan came back saying that they were like grasshoppers in the sight of the indigenes of the land? Well there you have it; the Canaanites were known to be a Nephilim tribe, definitely made up of giants. In 2Samuel 21:15-22, we see how David and his men killed four of such creatures. This time God did not use a flood to destroy them, just as he promised Noah, but He used his own people.

 

nephilim (A Nephilim skull next to a human skull)
All of these things are facts in the bible or facts of the bible; but are they true? Did Nephilim really exist? The huge skull you see there, next to the human skull, is known to be the skull of one of these creatures. I know naysayers might just jump to the conclusion that it is a human skull. Because we all know people who have relatively big heads: therefore the hefty skull in there could belong to someone whose head was a burden for his neck. The human skull is known to be made up of 4 plates (bones); one at the front, another at the back and two in the middle. The two in the middle are known as the Parietal plates or bones. They form the area of your head from your ear to the top of your head on both sides. The issue is this, the Nephilim skulls do not have two parietal plates, they have just one! Meaning, the structural make-up of their skulls are not uniform with that of normal human beings. The reason why I am stressing this point is, if this is true (which I believe it is), then it means there was a certain generation of ‘human beings’ with distinct characteristics that the Darwinian Theory doesn’t make provision for. How do we explain the origin of such creatures? Will we say they also had a common ancestry with monkeys, ‘as humans do’? Clearly they were not humans or fully human. Some of the bones that were dug up were measured to be the skeletons of 9-15 footers. Creatures of that height are known to be giants. And the evidence is scattered all over the place. In Paracas Peru, there was a discovery of hundreds of such skulls.

 

There were Nephilim; there were Nephilim on this very earth. And if they existed, then it means there was a creation of a demonic hybrid by fallen angels and the daughters of men. Also, if this is true, it goes a long way to establish the existence of the spiritual realm, angels and most importantly the existence of God. Those who adhere to a Darwinian world view may debunk this fact, but the evidence is so glaring. There once were creatures on this earth that were mighty in stature and intellect and from the structure of their cranium, they couldn’t have been humans. God’s not dead; and the evidence is all around us.

Reference: L.A Marzulli’s interview on Sid Roth’s ‘It’s Supernatural’ show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0dOJB8A9SI[/embed]

]]>
https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/14/gods-not-dead-there-were-nephilim/feed/ 0
GOD’s NOT DEAD https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/04/gods-not-dead-2/ https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/04/gods-not-dead-2/?noamp=mobile#comments Thu, 04 Sep 2014 14:33:09 +0000 http://elisabblah.wordpress.com/2014/09/04/gods-not-dead-2/ I personally believe one of a man’s greatest achievements is to be able to give an answer to this question ‘Who is GOD?’. They say ‘when you know where you are from then you know where you are going’. This blatantly means that a definition of one’s origin is ultimately essential in the course of his life. A knowledge of your origin is critical in the achievement of your purpose on this ever-spinning ball we call earth. How do you define your purpose if it’s not linked to your origin? The very moment we omit God from the picture, it looks like we just appeared in the middle of a highway: we can’t tell where we are going, neither can we tell where we are from.

 

An elimination of origin is tantamount to an omission of destination.

 

Nevertheless, some philosophers and scientists who are atheists have managed to move us a step back by prompting the posing of the question of whether or not God exists instead of who He is. I must say that, philosophically ‘God is dead’ is rather a weak statement which goes on to betray the intentions of those who say it. If He is dead, then it means He once lived. And if He once lived, then He was probably everything He said He was, which includes: eternal, all powerful and omniscient. Therefore if you claim He is dead, you just halfheartedly accepted his existence (or at least, that He once existed). Anyway, that’s rather on a lighter note.

How do we face facts as humans? When I go to the beach and see Elikplim Sabblah, kindly meet me behind the rocks on the far end of the beach written boldly in the sand, it instantly triggers this question in my head – ‘who wrote this?’. It is only normal for us to pin a human being or a personality to anything which expresses a certain level of intelligence. Nobody in their right senses would ask ‘how did this happen?’ when they see their full name written in the sand. Which would mean the writing in the sand appeared just like that – without an agent. Funnily enough, this is the line of thought that some of the smartest brains of our time hold: that the universe with all its splendor and majesty appeared on the scene and created everything else. Philosophically it doesn’t even make baby sense. It’s only normal to allude the expression of intelligence to a personality but some scientist choose to allude it to an event. So all through history, many set out to prove a mechanism while vehemently refuting the existence of an agent manning it. The argument they put up is that, one’s full name scribbled in the sand at the sea shore could have been written by the waves that hit the sand at the shore and not a person.

 

Imagine two people seated in the back seat of a Ford car, driven by Henry Ford himself. One claims that the fact that the car moves on four wheels and has the ability to stop, it must have created itself, because there couldn’t possibly be a being who could invent such a machine. The other says, since the driver of the car is called ‘FORD’ as well as the car, then the rumors are probably true: he could be the one who invented the car, especially because he is the sole-distributor of that brand of cars. The first man is an atheist and the second, a believer. The issue isn’t about the fact that believers merely allude everything to God to save them from the cumbersome ordeal of thinking. NO. Rather, the universe appears too systematically arranged and purposefully designed to have come to being by a random unguided process. Hence as a rebuttal, atheist-scientist often retort, ‘If you say God created the universe then who created God?’. Isn’t it ironic that they believe the universe created itself? So then we pose the same question to them: ‘if the universe created itself and everything else, then who created the universe?’

 

The presence of pain, suffering and evil in the world is seen as one of the greatest arguments against the existence of an all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present God. For if God knows everything and He wields all power why would He sit back and watch the world drowning in misery and do nothing about it? There is evil in this world because God created human beings and not robots. God created beings that reason; beings that have a WILL because He prefers the worship of a being who does so because he loves HIM (God) and not because he has been hardwired to do only that. Your sense of worth as a spouse may diminish when you realize you got married because your partner didn’t have an option. Same way, God gave man a will to choose to either serve him or not so that those who do serve Him, do so out of total reverence for him and not because they are robots that have no other function or option.

There is pain in the world because we live in a fallen world. The world God intended for man, sin made us disqualified for it. Eden was a place of eternal bliss, joy and peace. Yet our sin which largely communicated reverence to another being other than God, made us fall short of it. But the good news is, Calvary has made us eligible occupants of such a place – God has worked everything out to get us back to that sort of environment. Many also ask why God will place the human race in a world filled with dark forces and evil. This is neither here nor there, because when you think about it procreation sort of puts man in God’s position, so far as creation is concerned. So if you claim God is evil for placing human beings in a world filled with diseases, terrorism and evil, then guess what, you are equally evil for having babies. We all know there is a certain level of evil in the world, yet some of us have kids and others intend to have some. Even we who cannot vouch for the safety of our offspring are willing to bring them to life in a world like this, how much more he who holds the world in his hands?

 

Sometimes I just wish God would reveal himself to all mankind and just save us – his children – from having to defend his honor to people who doubt his existence. That would save the day, won’t it? Ha! If your 24 year old son walks up to you demanding a paternity test, regardless of the striking resemblance and character-traits both of you share, it will take a certain level of insecurity to make you actually take that test. I am saying if your child demands enough reason to be convinced you are his father, it will take insecurity on your part to actually want to prove it to him. Especially if there is enough proof already. I believe strongly that this is God’s position on the matter; he doesn’t have to show up to show that He is. Just as Henry Ford needn’t interrupt the argument going on in the car he invented because he knows who he is and what he did. God’s not dead, He is alive and today, I joined nature to scream it out loud.

]]>
https://www.elisabblah.com/2014/09/04/gods-not-dead-2/feed/ 4